Her birth name is Doris. But everyone calls her “Grammie.”

Enough said.

You know you’re gonna learn a lot from an 80-year-old, follower of Jesus, named Doris who goes by “Grammie.”

DorisHowardEp109

Then you discover she raised three kids. All who currently serve in ministry. Mentored Rich Mullins. Buried her husband after 32 years. As an older widow adopted a 14-year-old girl. That girl, now a married adult, lives less than a mile away to help care for Grammie.

Mostly you learn God provides.

After I stopped recording the interview Grammie said a piece of wisdom I can’t stop thinking about:

“We just need to obey and leave the consequences to God.”

What you are contemplating right now? What is He asking you to stop doing or start doing? How much time have you spent with all the ‘what ifs’? Who are you afraid to disappoint? Or what do you think you’ll miss out on?

Maybe you and I should absorb take Grammie’s advice and just obey and leave the rest to God.

What we chat about:

  • How scarlet fever at age 3 & her grandfather’s prayers inspired her faith.
  • The goals Grammie set at the age of 14 years old, and how God met them all.
  • Her journey to Bible knowledge–learning one story at a time.
  • How Grammie and her husband, Morris, started to mentor Rich Mullins.
  • The death of her husband 3 months after Rich came to live with them and two weeks before her daughter’s wedding.
  • The 3 sentences God gave Grammie after her husband’s funeral.
  • How she became a missionary to a young Asheville church at the age of 70 years old.
  • Her ministry to parents called “Pioneer Parenting: to share heaven together.”
  • The four chapters of the Bible Grammie would pick for moms to read.
  • The one question to ask when hard things happen.
  • Grammie’s empathy for the young mom with little ones–her encouragement when you feel like you can’t serve.
  • A word of hope for days you get discouraged by circumstances.
  • The prayer Grammie prayed for each of her kids.
  • What their family worship time looked like once a week.
  • How we can share Christ from the overflow of what we are learning, in the every day moments.
  • Why Grammie calls Philippians 4:4-9 “mental health verses” (& connects them with Colossians 3).
  • God’s provision in Grammie’s old age, from her obedience with a 14 year old girl from youth group.

Links Mentioned:

How to listen to the podcast:

1.Listen on the blog. Click through to GodCenteredMom.com and click the play button at the beginning of this post.

2. Listen on your smartphone, iPad or iPod Touch – There are a lot of great podcasting apps. Apple has a free one (that I mentioned) in the app store, there is also one called Downcast. It allows you to search for shows, subscribe to them and even speed up the audio. If you don’t have an iDevice, you can listen via Stitcher.

3. Subscribe to the Podcast – access the podcast in iTunes (Click here to access via iTunes). You can also search for it on your smartphone app (like the ones listed above) and subscribe.